The Search for Exoplanets

The search for exoplanets, planets orbiting stars outside our solar system, has accelerated over the past few decades. Since the discovery of the first exoplanet in 1992, thousands of exoplanets have been detected using various methods, including the transit method, where a planet passes in front of its host star, and the radial velocity method, which measures the star's wobble due to the gravitational pull of an orbiting planet. Missions like NASA's Kepler and TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) have significantly contributed to this growing catalog. The diversity of exoplanets is astonishing, ranging from gas giants larger than Jupiter to Earth-sized rocky planets. The search for potentially habitable exoplanets focuses on finding those in the habitable zone, where conditions might allow for liquid water. Future missions, such as the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), aim to study the atmospheres of exoplanets, searching for signs of life and understanding the formation and evolution of planetary systems.

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